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THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

We plan to launch Spacemaker VR in early 2014! Click this button to preorder yours today:

"It’s one of those inventions that all architects are soon going to realize they need – and clients will soon start to expect." - Guy Horton, Writer at Arch Daily

"Spacemaker can add some new perspective to the entire design process." - Justine Testado, Writer at Archinect

"The workflow of importing a model into Spacemaker is orders of magnitude easier than the same task in Unity." - Jared Cheshier, Architectural Animator

“Spacemaker is going to change the way that we design spaces.” - Tobias Nolte, Director at Gehry Technologies

“You just put the headset on and you are in your design. It can’t get easier than that.”- Makoto Mizutani, Founder, Scout Regalia

“It was easy to get my [3d] model out of Studio Max and into Spacemaker. My client could immediately see the changes we were talking about.” - Andrew Keegan, Director of Technology, Variate Labs

“It’s going to save us a ton of time and money.” - Kenna Ryman, Project Manager/Designer at Mary McDonald Inc.

“When you use Spacemaker you feel like you are really there.” - Randol Schoenberg, President of the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust

Spacemaker has been featured on Arch Daily, Archinect, Metropolis Magazine, Line Shape Space (Autodesk), Form Magazine, Archpaper, Interactive Architecture .org, Spatial Robots, AIA, Architectural Technology, and many other blogs!

Spacemaker VR works with your existing design softwares and makes it easy to export your 3d design files into immersive experiences that you can walk in! Spacemaker was made for traveling, using as an everyday design tool, and giving jaw-dropping presentations to clients and friends. Now you can feel what it's like to walk through your designs throughout the design process. Let your imagination run wild!

Spacemaker takes the best features of a full walking VR system and shrinks them down into an affordable and portable package that you can fit in your backpack! The Spacemaker system takes advantage of low cost/high quality head mounted displays (HMDs) designed for video games.

Take Spacemaker everywhere. Spacemaker is super portable and was designed to be used on site, at your client’s house, at your office, or on your couch at home. The 3d rendering engine powering Spacemaker is designed to work well on laptops making it easy to travel.

Works with tons of file types. Visual results will vary depending on the specific file format and the amount of time you put into your model. .osg/osgb, .dae, .wrl, and .3ds are known to work especially well with Spacemaker.

Villa Savoye model, by Le Corbusier, being built in 3ds Max.

Doing a few tests in Spacemaker while building the model. The model still works great even with generic materials!

Works with your existing design softwares and process. Third-party softwares like 3d Studio Max, Sketchup, Revit, Rhino, Autocad and many others can create or export some of the these file formats. Spacemaker makes it easy to quickly jump back-and-forth from designing a 3d space to walking inside it.

Spacemaker also come with a powerful Audodesk 3ds MAX plug-in that enables advanced scene creation workflows for managing and exporting large scenes. This is how we created the content in the promo videos.

Monoview on the second screen. It's easy for everyone in the room to have the same conversation while someone walks around inside a space. The person wearing the HMD will see in stereo 3d while everyone else can see in beautiful seamless monoview.

Works with multiple HMDs. The view that you see matches the position of your head making you feel like you are really there. Right now, Spacemaker works with the Oculus Rift but it will also support other HMDs including CastAR. You can order an Oculus Rift now or wait until next year for the high-definition HMD.

Reconfigurable keyboard movement. All movement in the 3d viewer is mapped to the keyboard and/or mouse. Using the Spacemaker user interface, you can customize the keys you want to use for your presentation. This makes it easy to use a number of third-party control devices like joysticks, controllers and other devices.

Brandable presentation display. You can show your logo in the second screen display, to give your presentation a personal touch for your favorite clients.

Real-time snapshots and videos. With Spacemaker you can take real-time snapshots and videos while inside the model so you can take notes for future design changes.

Spacemaker works well, right now, in a Boot Camp environment on the Mac. We are looking into a near-term solution to use Spacemaker in Mac OS but that is not currently included in this Kickstarter.

We built out the core features and model creation workflow over the past 5 months and we want to get Spacemaker into your hands as soon as possible. Kickstarter funds would be used for:

1. Create a user customizable interface. We want to create a few new features in the interface to give you more control of both the HMD and presentation experience.

2. Optimize the model import workflow. We want to make it even easier to get your models into Spacemaker. We will add new features so you can drag and drop your models into the app to quickly create a new immersive environment.

3. Create insanely awesome new 3d models. As part of this Kickstarter, we will build a few amazing models that will show you what is possible and inspire your designs. These models will make you feel like you are really there and we’ll make the 3d model files available so you can use them as reference when you create your own.

4. User support mechanisms. We'll be deploying forums and developing a robust help section.

5. Create a cool place online for people to share their models. With Spacemaker everyone is going to be creating awesome new experiences and we want to make it easy for everyone to share with each other.

Production Schedule. Back this Kickstarter now and get your own Spacemaker in late April/Early May.

Now is your chance to shape the product, have a voice in the direction of this software, and be a part of an amazing design community. Join us on this journey to create an unprecedented design tool that will change the way we design and experience space.

Once we reach our initial funding goal we will turn to you to get your feedback on the next features you want in Spacemaker. We hope to add a number of stretch goals throughout the campaign to deliver an even more exciting and compelling visualization experience!

Check out the updates section to stay on top of the latest info.

Digital Physical is a product company that comes out of nearly 16 years of service-based design work in the fields of architecture, software, and user experience design. We design and build user-driven software that helps people create better designs, communicate ideas, and build collective knowledge.

Miles Kemp, CEO, Digital Physical, Icon Magazine, September, 2011

Miles Kemp is the founder and CEO of Digital Physical. As an inventor, designer, programmer and published author, he has worked on over a hundred projects spanning robotics, architecture, products, vehicles, user experience, software development and video game design. Prior to starting Digital Physical, Miles was the CEO and creative vision behind award-winning Variate Labs and has worked with many clients, including ABC, BMW, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Microsoft, Samsung, Sony, Target, Time Warner and many more.

“I’m so excited for the new Spacemaker system, and I know that Miles is the perfect person to turn this kind of cutting edge technology into something everyone will want to get their hands on...” Kaz Brecher, Founder, Curious Catalyst

“Miles deserves to be acknowledged as the leading UX architect behind the most innovative media and e-commerce applications in use today. What makes him so successful, in my opinion, is that his training and career as an architect carried over into UX and UI design for interactive media communications. Miles is able to see software systems as 3D and 4D; as living systems used by humans.” Kurt Kratchman, CEO, Blackbox

Spacemaker is powered by the Vizard VR Toolkit developed by WorldViz. WorldViz is the industry leader in turnkey interactive visualizations, simulation solutions, and interactive head-mounted display based virtual reality systems. For the past 10 years, WorldViz has been leading the charge in creating VR simulations for Fortune 500 companies, the government and many academic institutions including Boeing, Siemens, Lockheed Martin, Toyota, Nissan, Disney, Turner Construction, 3M, NASA, Stanford University, MIT and many others.

Special Thanks

Variate Labs

WorldViz

Tanj Branding

Oculus VR

Scout Regalia

Guban Architecture

Curious Catalyst

Risks and challenges

We are innovators in the field of architecture, user experience design, and software development, and we have a track record of successfully delivering software experiences to consumers worldwide. Our team has produced and tested prototypes of the Spacemaker system and we are well positioned to execute on our proposed delivery schedule. We have provided the Kickstarter community with a conservative estimate of when delivery of the software can be expected.

Nevertheless, unforeseen challenges may present themselves as we build and refine our software. We are committed to keeping you informed of our progress in the months following the campaign. In the event that unexpected issues arise in the delivery schedule, we will do our utmost to minimize the impact on our early supporters and dedicate ourselves to providing you with a great experience.

Thank you to all Kickstarter VR enthusiasts for your time, support, and dedication. Let's make this game-changing design tool happen.

FAQ

No, the Oculus Rift or other VR headsets are not included. Kickstarter does not allow for third-party hardwares to be sold as part of this project. You can get an Oculus here (https://www.oculusvr.com/order/) or wait until next year for the rumored High-Definition Consumer Oculus. There are also a few other HMDs on the market.

You can see a lot of detail in your models and you can view details up close. One oculus HMD pixel is about 1 cm viewed at 2 m distance.

Here are some general recommendations for file size/format:
Number of polygons < 1.5 million
Surface area of model < 20,000 m2
Number of objects < 1,000
Materials Standard, Multi/Sub-Object, Shell
Lights Set up in VRAY
Grouping Intelligent grouping of objects (e.g. wheels, body, steering wheel grouped as Car)

Spacemaker VR leverages the amazing Vizard VR toolkit by WorldViz. Vizard's core is built upon C++, OpenGL, and a major open-source community project called OpenSceneGraph.

Vizard has its roots in immersive virtual reality for professional applications including not only HMD-based simulations but also CAVEs and other types of 3D display and tracking technologies. While using an Oculus is something many render engines can easily tackle, Vizard's strength lies in its enterprise-class render engine and expert control over every aspect of the perceptual experience. To Vizard, latency and render speed are king no mater what the display technology.

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Pledge $10 or more
About $10

Thank you for making Spacemaker happen! You’ll receive regular updates on our progress and we'll place your name on a special 3d plaque inside each of our premium models. Everyone will see that you supported this Kickstarter!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $100 or more
About $100

3 PREMIUM 3D MODELS WITH SIMPLE VR VIEWER: Includes Villa Savoye (Paris), Pantheon (Rome), Sheats Goldstein Residence (LA). Experience how daylight, scale, and materials bring these amazing places to life. Models can be used in a simple Spacemaker 3d viewer. Also includes your name on the plaque! (third-party headset not included).

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $199 or more
About $199

EARLY BIRD SPECIAL. SPACEMAKER VR: Build your own amazing VR experiences! Includes a customizable 3d viewer, 3d model export workflow, your name on the plaque, and a powerful exporter plug-in for Autodesk 3ds MAX. This is for our earliest backers in a limited quantity! (third-party headset not included).

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $299 or more
About $299

EARLY BIRD SPECIAL. SPACEMAKER VR AND 3 PREMIUM 3D MODELS: Build your own amazing VR experiences and visit 3 one-of-a-kind places! Includes a customizable 3d viewer, 3d model export workflow, 3 premium models, your name on the plaque, and a powerful exporter plug-in for Autodesk 3ds MAX. We will also give you the actual 3d models so you can use them for reference as you create your own. This is for our earliest backers in a limited quantity! (third-party headset not included).

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $499 or more
About $499

FIRST EDITION SPECIAL. SPACEMAKER VR AND EARLY ACCESS TO 3 PREMIUM 3D MODELS: Be in the first group to get Spacemaker and access to the 3d models while they are in development! Also comes with the same items as the $399 EARLY BIRD SPECIAL but with an earlier delivery date.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $5,000 or more
About $5,000

PARTNER WITH US: Let's start a dialogue on how we can work together. You'll be invited to have dinner with the founder in Los Angeles. We'll fly you out and put you up in a hotel. You'll get to see the latest version of Spacemaker and you'll join an exclusive group of early testers for the Spacemaker system! Includes all of the items in the $499 FIRST EDITION SPECIAL. Domestic travel within the US is covered for (1) person only. You are welcome to bring up to two guests, or fly internationally, but you will need to cover any additional travel expenses.